JEDDAH/WASHINGTON, December 17, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

Last year’s finalist, Arthur Fils of France, headlines the field of eight for the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, which begin Wednesday at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

On Sunday evening, the world’s eight leading 20-and-under players were divided up into two groups. The 20th-ranked Fils, who won ATP 500 titles in Hamburg and Tokyo en route to compiling a 347-26 win-loss record this season – was seeded first in the Blue Group. Joining him are third seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic (ranked 48th), fifth seed Learner Tien of the United States (No. 122) and No. 8 seed Joao Fonseca of Brazil (No. 145).

The Red Group is led by No. 2 seed Alex Michelsen of the United States (ranked 41st) and also includes fourth seed Shang Juncheng of China (No. 50), sixth seed Luca Van Assche of France (No. 128) and seventh seed Nishesh Basavareddy of the United States (No. 138).

The groups are set #NextGenATPFinals

— ATP Tour (@atptour) December 15, 2024

Past champions include: Hyeong Chung of South Korea (2017), Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece (2018), Jannik Sinner of Italy (2019), Carlos Alcaraz of Spain (2021), Brandon Nakashima of the United States (2022) and Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia (2023).

“Tennis is improving every year, every season, so it’s very important to try to be better than the generation before us,” Mensik, who won ATP Tour Newcomer of the Year honors, told the ATP Tour website.

Fils, Michelsen and Van Assche qualified for last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals while the others will be competing for the first time.

Back in Jeddah for a second year in a row ️#ATPChallenger | @nextgenfinals pic.twitter.com/zLa8lduf7N

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) December 6, 2024

No doubt, Fils will enter play as the pre-tournament favorite after losing last year’s title match to Medjedovic. While he defeated Tien at the US Open, Fils lost to Fonseca at Rio de Janeiro earlier this season. Mensik comes in with four Top-10 victories to his credit and Tien has been a seven-time champion in 2024 (four ITF World Tennis Tour titles and three ATP Challenger Tour crowns).

Meanwhile, Michelsen and Shang, both Top 50 players, loom as strong possibilities to advance to the semifinal round from their group. Shang won his first ATP Tour title this fall in Chengdu, while Michelsen was a two-time finalist on the ATP Tour this season, at Newport on grass and at Winston-Salem on a hard court.

Round-robin group play begins on Wednesday and continues through Friday, with afternoon and evening sessions. The semifinals will take place on Saturday and the title match will be on Sunday, Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. (local time; 6 p.m. CET; noon U.S. Eastern Time).

Next Gen ATP Finals groups

(With seeds in parentheses)

Blue Group: Arthur Fils (1), Jakub Mensik (3), Learner Tien (5), Joao Fonseca (8).

Red Group: Alex Michelsen (2), Shang Juncheng (4), Luca Van Assche (6), Nishesh Basavareddy (7).

Wednesday’s order of play

Red Group: Shang vs. Van Assche, 2 p.m. (local time; noon CET; 6 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time) followed by Michelsen vs. Basavareddy (not before 3 p.m.)

Blue Group: Mensik vs. Tien, 7 p.m. (local time; 5 p.m. CET; 11 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time) followed by Fils vs. Fonseca.